But that crazy figure added up and, iirc, the time backed it up. I might try and dig out the details, time permitting.
2008 QMCC
1. MM (OR 170)
2. VPU (169)
3. Fair Along (152)
4. Schindlers Hunt (154)
5. Newmill (159)
(and three others all on ORs higher than Schindlers)
Dist: 19L (count 'em), 16L, 1L, 8L
Going G-S
Time 3.8s slow
RP Analysis (the italics and colours are mine):
A simply sensational performance from
MASTER MINDED in what had been one of the most keenly anticipated races of the festival, the five-year-old, the first of his age to succeed in the race's 49 runnings,
trouncing last year's winner Voy Por Ustedes by the sort of margin not seen in this event since the days of Badsworth Boy, who won the first of his three successive 2m Champion Chases at the age of eight way back in 1983.
While it did not look as if there was quite the strength in depth at the top end that we became accustomed to in
the recent golden era that was dominated by the likes of Moscow Flyer, Azertyuiop, Well Chief and Flagship Uberalles, the field of eight featured four runners for whom one could make decent cases for and looked a cut above the two most recent renewals. Yet in a race that concerned only the first two from the fourth-last,
Master Minded won in a manner that had to be seen to be believed.
What's more, in winning
eased down by 19 lengths from Voy Por Ustedes (BHA rating 170, Racing Post Rating 169) he put up a performance that
entitles him to be rated higher than Moscow Flyer, who is generally acknowledged to have been the best two-miler of recent years, and higher even than his stable-mate Kauto Star (BHA 180, RPR 185).
Master Minded was not that special in France and his British career at Exeter began inauspiciously when he unseated his rider at the third. Impressive next time off 145 in a handicap at Sandown, he did not put a foot wrong when slamming Voy Por Ustedes on favourable terms in the Game Spirit but even his performance there could not have prepared many for the remarkable display he put on here. Always going easily in a race in which Schindlers Hunt and Tamarinbleu forced a strong pace, he jumped into anarrow lead at the fifth-last and had only the runner-up to worry about from the next. Coming down the hill Ruby Walsh still had his hands full while æChoc' Thornton was rowing away on Voy Por Ustedes, and it was all over long before Walsh shook him up and sent him clear.
Remarkably, the margin between the first two was growing all the way to the line, even though Walsh was pulling down his goggles and patting Master Minded down the neck while Thornton never stopped riding. Unless injury intervenes it will take something very special indeed to beat him in this race for the foreseeable future, and it is no surprise that some of the big firms are offering only even money, although William Hill went 6-4 and a couple of Irish bookmakers initially advertised 9-4.
